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Going back to the OT question, it's are there series 'as epic' as WoT? To me, Goodkind does not fall into that category. His story is apparently on a large scale, but his attempts to depict that story are problematicly repetitive and seems to rely on the characters getting kidnapped and tortured a lot. WoT works because you get the impression of a vast continent riven by conflicts (ideological and cultural as well as military) on many fronts. That doesn't really happen in Goodkind: he hasn't a clue about military action or the realities of war (hint: human beings cannot engage in combat after someone has removed their spine), and his depiction of battle is inspired more by FINAL FANTASY than anything remotely realistic. There are also no real cultural differences between his countries, as Dick Rahl and his crew are presented as 'always right' and everyone else as 'always wrong'. It's an incredibly shallow experience.

On that basis, the only series I would put in the same bracket of 'epicness' as Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time are George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire, R. Scott Bakker's Prince of Nothing trilogy (and its Aspect-Emperor sequel series) and Paul Kearney's Monarchies of God. Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen is the only one which I would say is inarguably much bigger and more epic, taking place on a larger scale than WoT.

Joe Abercrombie's First Law trilogy, Kate Elliott's Crown of Stars series, JV Jones' Sword of Shadows sequence and, potentially, Scott Lynch's Gentleman Bastard and Patrick Rothfuss' Kingkiller Chronicle series are all pretty big and epic as well, but not in the same league as the above-mentioned titles, at least not yet.

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Goodkind is terrible...absolutely terrible. What's with his rape fetish issues? Almost every female character in his books is repeatedly raped. That guy has some major issues. And all he does is regurgitate Ayn Rand when he's not plagiarizing RJ.

Your opinion. The fact that his female characters either get raped or almost get raped, and not by far every single one of them, is that it's realistic for the type of brutal characters who do the raping or attempt to. You will also notice (If you'd actually read the books) that those guys usually end up getting killed in a pretty brutal fashion. Why don't you go somewhere and cry and rant about every C.S.I. show or law and order ever aired. You'd have more to go on.

Do you even have a clue as to what Ayn Rand's philohophy even was?!

And he doesn't plagarize RJ. I've read every book, in both series, several times. The only similarities are the unavoidable fantasy archtype themes. Learn to form your own opinion and not just spout what everyone else says over and over again. :)

Luckers or Maj or whoever sees this and tells us to stop, sorry. I'm already done though, I know you guys hate SoT as well. ;D

I actually own and have read both The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged. Ayn Rand is far better at explaining her philosophies than TG's bastardized version of it. And, yes I have read the Sword of Truth books (at least the first 4 or so). They are terrible and TG sucks as a writer (yes, my opinion). Besides which, we shouldnt' be discussing it as "epic fantasy" because in his own condescending words he "doesnt write fantasy." If you like it, fine. I happen to think its terrible. No worries. :)

I'll be the first to admit that Terry Goodkind, as a person, is not someone I would want to hang out with. He's arrogant he preaches way too much and he does have some odd views. But he did write a story that kept millions of people occupied for quite awhile. So they can't be all bad. You don't sell millions of copies of your books world wide if they're that terrible.

At least we both like WoT. :)

So did Stephanie Meyer...;)

We both agree on WoT though...to each his own. I will give Goodkind this much: He at least is a passable writer. He not brutal to read like a Chris Paoli.

I agree totally with you about the "Great Yearded One",I gotta give him credit though:not many authors would have enough balls to make an epic novel's heinous pivotal villain an evil chicken ???.

As far as Chris Paolini,I think he has an old copy of Madlibs and just filled all the blanks with fantasy stereotypes.

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The Darksun series of novels by Marium Zimmer Bradley are good, even those written by other authors (after she died).

and poor Terry Goodkind. I don't mind him, only because, he got me interested in Robert Jordan. I went on a forum YEARS ago, explaiming over his Sword of Truth series, and someone said "Ah, thats just a rip off of the Wheel of Time books", so I looked them up, and threw T.G.'s books out the door =] Well, I still have the first four, collecting dust and worms :)

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In that case... The Hyperion/Endymion series by Dan Simmons is on an incredibly epic scale. The planets are all connected by a massive farcaster network, yet it is also intense in its focus on the main characters. The Canterbury Tales-esque first novel does an awesome job of showing all the different planets and cultures that are involved, and it only increases in its epicness from there. All in all, my favorite book series.

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Dresden series is so addictive nice easy read and some fun a$$ stories so far started with the first 3 in a boxed set and now finishing book 8 and getting ready to get White Nights book 9 to read till TGS hits. Jim Butcher writes a fun series in the Dresden Files series.

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I haven't seen anyone mention Tad Williams' Memory, Sorrow & Thorn trilogy from the late 80's/early 90's. While it has a familiar beginning in the first back, the series quickly cuts its own path through the rest of the trilogy by avoiding most familiar fantasy archetypes. The last two books especially have a dark tone, but well worth the read. IMHO, this is an underrated series, well worth taking a look.

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i saw one mention of kate elliot, crown of stars. its pretty good, gets a little crazy in the middle, but she pulls it back together by the end.

the wayfarer redemption by sara douglass is pretty good. books 4,5, and 6 brought the series into the sci-fi realm as opposed to starting as a fantasy series.

if you're looking for less disney stuff than eddings (which i happen to sort of agree with) i found the kushiel series by jaqueline carry refreshing. its adult, its a bit dark, there is a lot stronger of a romance theme than i'm used to, but didn't mind, and instead of "magic" in a traditional sense, this is based more on religion. like i said, it was refreshing. and unlike myself, and robert jordan, not so bad on the run-on sentences. ;D

r. a. salvatore has a bunch of good stuff.

currently reading aSoIaF, because i couldn't get through crossroads of twilight on my pre-tgs reread. in book three. its as amazing as everybody else has said.

the first couple goodkind books weren't so terrible...but character development halted after book three, and wash rinse repeat for what is it 8 or 10 more books now?

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David Gemmell is an excellent author, you can't go wrong with his books. Unfortunately he died not that long ago, but he has several excellent series out.

Read the first Drenai novel, Legend. It will get you hooked, awesome story. Legend tells the story of Rek and Druss the Legend, who is an old man that has achieved great deeds during his life. They find out that the Nadir (like Mongols) are going to invade the country of Drenai. The confrontation takes place at the fort of Dros Delnoch, which is a massive fortress built to stop the Nadir. Kind of a dark story, because the Drenai at the fort number 10,000 men, while the Nadir number about half a million I believe. So the good guys all expect to die. Good writing and you really get attached to the characters.

He also writes some historical fantasy fiction as well. A series about Parmenion and Alexander the Great, and a series about the fall of Troy. Both Good series.

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Me and The Dirty Landry has the same taste in books. :D I second his recommendations.

Yeah, I was sad that he died..not only because he was a good writer but he was also a good man from what i read. I really like the moral of his stories...that while violence does not solve all problems, its worse to run and hide because you're scared to fight for what you believe. He was a firm believer in the principle that "the coward dies a thousand deaths each day, the brave die but once."

Has anyone read the new "Imager" series that Modesitt has released? A lot of introspection, but i'm used to that from his books. I like them.

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I would like to voice my suggestion of the entire Ender series, the shadow books as well. The shadow books that focus on Bean are a lot different than the core Ender books, but all together the epic is so huge and delightful to live in for a while =)

Also, I highly recommend Asimov. Foundation series is AMAZING, and his robot novels are a lot of fun.

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Dragonmount.com is a fan-maintained website dedicated to Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time fantasy series. It is an online community of people from all over the world who have come here to experience the series to the fullest.